Browsing All Posts published on »November, 2011«

Mary O'Brien of the Grand Canyon Trust says it is like doing a study on obesity and not considering what people eat. The BLM is spending $40 million of taxpayer stimulus funds to do a "ecoregional assessment study" but ruling out ahead of time the impact of grazing. The regulators are afraid of upsetting the regulated. Regulatory capture at it's worst. Are we Alice at the Mad Hatter's table? Here's Rocky Barker of the Idaho Statesman withmore.

The Colorado River does not make it to the sea. It's all used up 70 miles before it gets there, leaving the Colorado River Delta parched. Over 75 percent of the water extracted goes to agriculture. Whenever something about water use comes up in the press, watering lawns always comes up. That is the wrong grass. It's not lawns draining the river, it's hay. Buying up the virtual property right of water rights from farmers and ranchers is called "water ranching." I'll try to find more on that in the future. In the meanwhile, here's a piece from the New York Times on the river, and another interesting blog from a recent author on the subject, Jonathan Waterman (great name.)

One of the hidden delights of large, underpopulated, undeveloped places is the prospect for clear dark nights, free of light pollution. The Colorado Plateau is one darkest places left in the 48 states. The Leonid meteor showers are coming up. Steve Owen of Dark Sky Diary can tell you more. . . . more>>

There's been a mounting stream of good news for the environment. 18 new wilderness zones proposed for nine Western states including three in Utah. Fabulous. Perhaps with the election year on this will be a new turn of the tide for the Obama administration? . . . more>>

The Salt Lake Tribune weighs in. This kind of economic nonsense of allowing an open pit coal mine on the doorstep of a favorite national park in order to create a couple hundred jobs is just what ticks off Tom Wharton in the previous post. . . . more>>

I categorize each of my posts in one of the categories you see on the right. I don't have one for curmudgeon, but perhaps I should. It takes one to know one and it's a favorite of mine. Tom Wharton is turning 61 and as he takes personal inventory of the role of journalism and the state of politics and the environment he is none too happy. I know how he feels. . . . more>>